The cost of social care is bankrupting local councils and threatening the NHS. At the Tory party conference, it has now emerged that the social care minister, Jackie Doyle-Price, repeated the argument that it was unfair if old people who lived in valuable houses had social care bills paid by the state. There is no question that social care desperately needs more cash. There will be a shortfall of nearly £6bn by the end of the decade, and despite the extra cash for social care that was released earlier this year partly to meet the cost of paying the higher living wage and partly to keep residential care homes afloat, £1bn of that will be in social care. The crisis in social care has been predictable, and predicted, for a generation.

Source: The Guardian October 17, 2017 04:52 UTC